New York construction accident attorney Mike Rose outlines how labor law section 240 can affect construction accident injury claims.
If you're a construction worker, owners and general contractors have the responsibility to protect workers from gravity-related dangers. So, what does that mean? If you're working from a height, standing on a ladder, a scaffold, a platform, standing on a ledge in the course of construction, owners and general contractors are responsible for providing proper safety devices such as harnesses, the ability for workers to tie off, and protections with ladders and scaffolds to make sure that they're safe.
Workers that are exposed to overhead hazards, such as work being conducted overhead, quite often we see circumstances where construction debris can fall, again, due to the effect of gravity. Now, 240 is what's called a strict liability statute. So, in circumstances where a construction worker is injured due to the effect of gravity, being a worker who's falling from a height or an object that's falling from a height striking a worker, owners and contractors are strictly liable to that worker. To make sure that they have the proper protection and if they don't, then they're entitled to full compensation for their injuries, pain and suffering, medical expenses, lost wages, pensions - all damages that arise from that incident.